Gerald Kleczka: “I am coming to this side of the aisle this morning so my remarks can be heard by my Republican colleagues, especially…”

“I am coming to this side of the aisle this morning so my remarks can be heard by my Republican colleagues, especially the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller). What are we doing here today? We have before us a resolution which tells the Senate to take up legislation to make the marriage tax repeal permanent. Are they going to get this resolution and take it up? No, because they are debating homeland security. They are going to start debating the President's resolution to provide a preemptive strike on the country of Iraq, and so they have other things that they are doing. So let us see what we are doing. We are passing a resolution today to ask the Senate to take up a bill that we passed some time ago. What is not being really told here today is that the repeal of the marriage penalty is already law. The President signed that bill last year, and so we are being told by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) that this family from his District, the Castillos, are going to suffer the loss of this marriage penalty which benefits them some $1,125 unless we make this repeal permanent. Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the Castillos have received nothing from repeal of the marriage penalty. The reason is it does not start to phase out until the year 2005. So the Congress, with the gentleman from Illinois' (Mr. Weller) support repealed the marriage penalty beginning in 2005 and phasing it to total repeal in 2010. Then what they did in 2011, it comes back into being.…”